Method and apparatus for specifying destination using previous destinations stored in navigation system

ABSTRACT

A method enables a user to quickly and easily specify a destination by selecting and modifying previous destinations stored in the navigation system. The method includes the steps of: creating a previous destination database by storing address information every time when a destination is set in a navigation system, selecting an input method which utilizes the address information in the previous destination database for specifying a new destination, displaying a list of previous destinations set in the previous destination database, selecting one of the previous destinations from the previous destination list; and selecting a part of address information of the selected previous destination and changing the selected part to create the new destination.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to an input method and apparatus for use in anavigation system, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus forspecifying a destination by selecting and modifying previousdestinations stored in the navigation system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A navigation system performs travel guidance for enabling a user toeasily and quickly reach the selected destination. A typical example isa vehicle navigation system where a navigation system is installed in avehicle such as an automobile, motorcycle and the like. The presentinvention is not limited to a vehicle navigation system but isapplicable to other types of navigation systems such as a PDA (PersonalData Assistant), a cellular phone, and other portable navigationdevices. However, for the convenience of explanation, the followingdescription is made mainly for the vehicle navigation system.

When a destination is set, the navigation system starts a route guidancefunction for guiding the user through a guided route from the startpoint to the destination. To determine the guided route to thedestination, the navigation system calculates and determines an optimumroute to the destination based on various parameters. During the routeguidance, when the vehicle is within a predetermined distance of anintersection it is approaching, an intersection guidance diagram isdisplayed to inform the user of the road or direction that the usershould take at the intersection. Such route guidance by the navigationsystem is also given by voice instructions.

FIGS. 1A-1H show an example of overall procedure and screen displayinvolved in the navigation system. FIG. 1A shows an example of locatormap screen of the navigation system typically used when the destinationis not specified. The navigation system displays a street on which thevehicle (current vehicle position VP) is running on a map image and aname of the street.

FIGS. 1B-1E show an example of process for specifying a destination inthe navigation system through a “Recent Route” input method. Whenselecting a “Destination” menu on a main menu screen of FIG. 1B, thenavigation system displays a “Find Destination By” screen as shown inFIG. 1C for specifying a list of input methods for selecting thedestination. This screen shows various methods for selecting thedestination, for example “Address”, “Intersection”, “Point of Interest(POI)”, “Map Cursor”, “Recent Route”, “Address Book”, and “Today'sPlan”.

In this example, the input method “Recent route” is used to display apredetermined number of destinations that have been used in the past tobe selected as the current destination. When the “Recent route” methodis chosen in FIG. 1C, the navigation system displays a list of recentdestinations visited so that user can select the desired destinationfrom the list shown in FIG. 1D. When an address is selected by the user,the navigation system displays a “Confirm Destination” screen such asshown in FIG. 1E. If the name and address on the screen shows thecorrect destination, the user enters an “OK to Proceed” key to proceedto the next procedure.

In FIG. 1F, the navigation system calculates and determines a route tothe selected destination. Once the route to the destination isdetermined, the navigation system starts the route guidance as shown inFIG. 1G for guiding the user to the destination. Typically, thenavigation system shows an intersection that is highlighted on thedisplay to notify the user of the next turn and the direction of theturn. When the user approaches the destination within such apredetermined distance, the navigation system indicates that thedestination is approaching as shown in FIG. 1H.

In the conventional “Recent Route” input method noted above, the userselects an address from the list of predetermined number of previousroutes stored in the system. For easily searching the recent routes, themaximum number of recent routes in the list is limited to relativelysmall number such as ten (10). Every time the user inputs newdestinations in the navigation system, the new destination is stored inthe system. The oldest destination that exceeds the predeterminedmaximum number is removed.

For example, if the number of address to be stored in the system for“Recent Route” is ten, the eleventh input would cause the first input tobe deleted from the system automatically. This creates some problems forthe user when the user desires to go back to the destination that wasvisited 12th or 13th trips ago. The user will need to input the entireaddress again from the beginning using input methods such as “Address”.This would require the user to go through series of screens to enter thestate, city, street, etc.

Furthermore, in the input method that lists previous destinations suchas “Recent Routes” above, the user can not alter the address that isstored in the system. That is, if the user only wanted to change theaddress number of the same street of the recent route, the user wouldhave to input the entire address again from the beginning using inputmethod such as “Address”. This would require the user to go throughseries of keyboard screens to enter the city, street, address number,etc.

This process is shown in FIGS. 2A-2H. When selecting a “Destination”menu on a main menu screen of FIG. 2A, the navigation system displays an“Find Destination By” screen as shown in FIG. 2B for specifying a listof input methods for selecting the destination. In this example, theuser selects the input method “Address” because the new destination isnot exactly the same as those stored in the navigation system. Then, thenavigation system displays a keyboard screen of FIG. 2C to prompts theuser to specify the city name of the destination.

Based on the characters input by the user, the navigation systemdisplays a list of city names as shown in FIG. 2D. When selecting one ofthe city names, the navigation system displays a keyboard screen of FIG.2E to prompts the user to specify the street name of the destination.After specifying the street name, in FIG. 2F, the navigation systemdisplays a numeric keyboard screen to prompts the user to specify theaddress number. After all these steps noted above, the navigation systemconfirms the destination in FIG. 2G and moves to the route guidance inFIG. 2H. In this manner, to input a new address takes a long time forentering names and numbers through several different keyboard screens.

There arises a situation where the user wants to go to a place which islocated close to the place where the user has previously visited. Inother case, the user wants to go to a place which is located on the samestreet of different house number from the place where the user haspreviously visited. In such a case, rather than newly inputting anentire address of a destination through a keyboard screen, for example,the destination can be set easily and quickly if a portion of the dataof the previous destination can be modified.

Because the conventional navigation system does not allow the user tochange the data of the recent route, and the maximum available number ofrecent route is very small, the conventional “Recent Route” method isnot useful for such a situation. Further, when the user desires to go toa place similar to the previous destination, the user cannot alter theinformation in the system. The user has to input the entire information,which requires many steps of key operation as shown in FIG. 2A-2H. Thus,there is a need for a navigation system that can easily and quicklymodified the information stored in the navigation system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide anavigation system which enables a user to easily and quickly set a newdestination by modifying the destination information stored in thenavigation system.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method andapparatus for a navigation system that provides an intelligent userinterface so that a user can save steps of input process for selecting adestination.

In the present invention, the navigation system is provided with aninput method which selects and modify one of previous destinationsstored in the previous destination database in the navigation system.The previous destination database of the navigation system stores all ofthe destinations that have been set by users of the navigation system.The user is then able to choose the previous destination from the listto modify the address.

When a destination is selected from the list, the navigation systemdisplays a confirmation screen in which a user can go on with theselection or alter any part of the destination information. When theuser needs to alter the information, the user can select one or moreselection keys indicating “State”, “City”, “Street” and “Number” forchanging the address data of the previous destination. Each change ofthe information would cause the navigation system to query with thedatabase so that a unique address is displayed for the user to confirmthe address.

More specifically, the method of the present invention includes thesteps of: storing the destination information, selecting the “PreviousRoutes” input method, displaying a list of previous destinations,selecting a destination, modifying the destination information ifnecessary, confirming the updated destination, and calculating route tothe user's destination from a current position and guiding the user toreach the destination.

Another aspect of the present invention is a display apparatus for anavigation system. The display apparatus is configured by various meansfor achieving the display methods described above which utilizes the“Previous Destination” menu to provide the user with a selection toprevious destinations stored in the navigation system so that it can beused as the current destination or its alteration thereof.

According to the present invention, the navigation method and apparatusprovides a way for a user to easily and efficiently alter thedestination address stored in the system. The user can alter any part ofthe destination dynamically using an intuitive interface including theselection keys “State”, “City” “Street” and “Number”. In other words,the user can recycle the address information in the previousdestinations. Because the user does not need to input the entire addressinformation over again, the user can save time in inputting the newinformation into the system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A-1H are schematic diagrams showing an example of process andscreen display of a navigation system for specifying a destinationthrough a recent route method, determining route to the destination, andguiding a user to the destination.

FIGS. 2A-2H are schematic diagrams showing an example of process andscreen display of a navigation system for specifying a destinationthrough an address input method, determining route to the destination,and guiding a user to the destination.

FIGS. 3A-3H are schematic diagrams showing an example of process andscreen display of a navigation system for specifying a destinationthrough a previous destination method of the present invention,determining route to the destination, and guiding a user to thedestination.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of structure in the vehiclenavigation system for implementing the previous destination method ofthe present invention.

FIGS. 5A-5H are schematic diagrams showing an example of process andscreen display of a navigation system for specifying a destinationthrough a previous destination method of the present invention includinga step of selecting a sorting method of previous destinations.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing a basic operational process of the inputmethod of the present invention for selecting and modifying the addressdata of the previous destination in the navigation system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention will be described in detail with reference to theaccompanying drawings. There arises a case where the user wants to go toa place which is located close to the place where the user haspreviously visited. In other case, the user wants to go to a place whichis located on the same street with different house number where the userhas previously visited. In such a case, rather than newly inputting anentire address of a destination through layers of keyboard screen, forexample, the destination can be set easily and quickly if the addressdata of the previous destination can be modified.

The navigation system in the present invention is designed so that a newdestination can be set in a navigation system easily and quickly byaltering the previous destination information stored in the navigationsystem. The present invention is advantageously applicable to thesituation where the user has visited to a particular location before andneeds to alter, for example, the house number (address number) of theprevious destination.

In order to achieve this objective, the navigation system stores all ofthe destinations that the user has set in the navigation system so farand provides means for altering the stored information dynamically bythe user. Therefore, the user does not need to input an entire addressof a new destination. Since the user does not need to input the entireaddress into the navigation system, the user is able to avoid theburdensome steps of inputting the address information.

FIGS. 3A-3H are schematic diagrams showing an example of process andscreen display of the navigation system for specifying a destinationthrough a previous destination method of the present invention,determining route to the destination, and guiding the user to thedestination. In the present invention, the “Previous Destination” inputmethod is used for setting a new destination. In the process, first, onthe main menu screen of FIG. 3A, the user selects “Destination” key tomove to a list of input methods for selecting a destination.

Then, the navigation system displays a list of input methods forselecting a destination which includes a “Recent route” input method ofthe present invention as shown in FIG. 3B. Other input methods are thesame as those shown in the example of FIG. 1C. The user selects the“Previous Destination” input method in FIG. 3B.

Then, the navigation system displays a list of previous destinations asshown in FIG. 3C. The list of previous destinations is stored in aprevious destination database of the navigation system and is retrievedwhen the “Previous Destination” method is selected as noted above. Theconventional “Recent route” function noted above with reference to FIGS.1C-1E can store a small number of previous destinations such as ten(10). However, the navigation system of the present invention isdesigned to store all of the previous destinations, i.e, virtuallyunlimited number of destinations in the previous destination databases.Preferably, the destinations set in the navigation system but notvisited are also stored in the previous destination database.

The user can choose from the list of destinations visited in the past touse for producing a new destination by partially changing the address.Suppose the user knows that the place he wants to visit is located closeto the place where he has visited before. For example, the place hewants to visit is on “Carson Street” in the city of Torrance and he hasvisited “25 Carson Street” in the same city before. If the user knowsthe address (house) number, he changes the number “25” to that newnumber. Even if he does not know the exact number, but only knows thatthe house number is several hundred, it may be a good idea to specifythe new destination such as “510 Carson Street” because in many cases,when he comes to the neighborhood, he knows the actual location of thedestination.

Thus, in the above example, the user selects “25 Carson Street, TorranceCalif.” in FIG. 3C by, for example, scrolling the list of previousdestinations. When a particular address is chosen from the list, thenavigation system displays a destination confirmation screen such asshown in FIG. 3D. This screen shows the selected previous destinationand several possible choices. If the user wants to visit the place ofthe address on the screen, he selects “OK to Proceed” for calculating aroute to the address. However, in this example, he wants to create a newdestination by changing the street number of the address on the screen.

Thus, for easily changing the desired portion of the address of theprevious destination, the screen of FIG. 3D includes selection keys fora user to select an item of the address of the previous destination tomodify. The example of selection keys includes “State”, “City”, “Street”and “Number”. For example, when the “State” key is selected, the usercan change the name of the state, when the “City” is selected, the usercan change the name of the city, when the “street” is selected, the usercan alter the street name to another street, and when the “Number” keyis selected, the user can change the address (house) number of thestreet.

In this example, since the user wants to change the address number from“25” to “510”, the user selects the “Number” key in FIG. 3D. Then, thenavigation system displays a screen of FIG. 3E for a user to specify theaddress number on the “Carson Street”. Through the numeric keyboard ofFIG. 3E, the user changes the address number from “25” to “510”. In FIG.3F, since the address shown on the screen now is the desireddestination, the user selects the “OK to Proceed” key. The navigationsystem calculates a route to the new destination in FIG. 3G and startsthe route guidance to the destination as shown in FIG. 3H.

In the conventional technology, even when the address of the newdestination is similar to that of the previous destination, the user hasto input the entire address over again. Such a process requires manysteps of key operations for specifying a city name, street name, and anaddress number as described with reference to FIGS. 2A-2H. In thepresent invention, by allowing the user to select and modify theinformation stored in the navigation system, the user is able to avoidthe burden of inputting the information in the navigation system.

Typical example of modifying previous destination information in thepresent invention is to change the address number as noted above.However, with use of the other selection keys “State”, “City”, “Street”shown in FIGS. 3D and 3F, the present invention also allows the user tocreate a new destination while making use of the address data of theprevious destination. Once the system finds a unique destination basedon the information specified by the user, the navigation system wouldswitch to the confirmation screen such as shown in FIG. 3F.

When the “OK to proceed” key is pressed, the navigation systemcalculates the route to the new destination as shown in FIG. 3G.Typically, at this time, the information concerning the new destinationis stored in the previous destination database of the navigation system.Then, the navigation system starts the route guidance to thedestination. The selection keys “State”, “City”, “Street” and “Number”in the above example can be replaced with other types of keys ordisplays such as pop-up screens, selection boxes, symbols, marks oricons, etc.

FIG. 4 shows a structure of a vehicle navigation system for implementingthe present invention. While the vehicle navigation system is explainedfor an illustration purpose, the present invention can be applied toother types of navigation systems such as portable handheld navigationdevice utilizing a GPS and a PDA.

In the block diagram of FIG. 4, the navigation system includes a mapstorage medium 31 such as a CD-ROM, DVD, hard disc or other means(hereafter “DVD”) for storing map information. Alternatively, such mapdata can be provided to the user's navigation system from a remotenavigation server through a communication network such as an Internet.The navigation system includes a DVD control unit 32 for a controllingan operation for reading the map information from the DVD, a positionmeasuring device 33 for measuring the present vehicle position or userposition. For example, the position measuring device 33 has a vehiclespeed sensor for detecting a moving distance, a gyroscope for detectinga moving direction, a microprocessor for calculating a position, a GPS(Global Positioning System) receiver for receiving signals from GPSsatellite, and etc.

The block diagram of FIG. 4 further includes a map information memory 34for storing the map information which is read from the DVD 31, a POIdatabase memory 35 for storing information on points of interest (POI)which is read out from the DVD 31, a remote controller 37 for executinga menu selection operation, an enlarge/reduce operation, a destinationinput operation, etc. and a remote controller interface 38.

Although a remote controller is a typical example for selecting menus,executing selected functions and etc., the navigation system includesvarious other input methods to achieve the same and similar operationsdone through the remote controller. For example, the navigation systemincludes hard keys and a joystick on a head unit of the navigationsystem mounted on a dash board, tough screen of the display panel, andvoice communication means.

The navigation system further includes a bus 36 for interfacing theabove units in the system, a processor (CPU) 39 for controlling anoverall operation of the navigation system, a ROM 40 for storing variouscontrol programs such as a route search program and a map matchingprogram necessary for navigation control, a RAM 41 for storing aprocessing result such as a guide route, a voice interface and guidingunit 42 for voice communication interface and spoken instructions, adisplay controller 43 for generating map image (a map guide image and anarrow guide image) on the basis of the map information, a VRAM 44 forstoring images generated by the display controller 43, a menu/listgenerating unit 45 for generating menu image/various list images, asynthesizing unit 46, a previous destination search controller 47, aprevious destination database 49, and a monitor (display) 50.

The previous destination search controller 47 and the previousdestination database 49 play a major role in the present invention. Theprevious destination search controller 47 can be implemented by the CPU39 or by a separate microprocessor. The previous destination searchcontroller 47 controls an overall operation of storing the informationon the destinations in the previous destination database 49, retrievingthe previous destination data from the database 49, displaying theunique screens involved in the previous destination operations, etc. Theprevious destination database 49 can be of any non-volatile memory suchas a flash memory, a hard disc, etc. The previous destination searchcontroller 47 allows the user to select and change the addressinformation (state, city name, street name, address number) of theprevious destination.

When the user inputs the destination information, all of the necessaryinformation during the destination input process is stored in theprevious destination database 49. All of the destination data selectedby the user are stored in the previous destination database 49regardless of whether the user actually visited the destinations. Thisinformation can be accessed by choosing the “Previous Destination” inputmethod on the destination selection screen.

When the address data of the previous destination is selected by theuser, the recent route search controller 47 provides selection keys sothat the user can select one or more items of the address that he wantsto change. The recent route search controller 47 also provides means forthe user to select a method of sorting the previous destination data forquickly searching the previous destination when the database 49 islarge. The recent route search controller 47 receives new address dataof the destination information produced by the user by modifying theaddress data of the previous destination. The navigation system finds anappropriate route to the destination and starts the route guidance tothe destination.

FIGS. 5A-5H are schematic diagrams showing another example of processand screen display of the navigation system for specifying a destinationthrough the previous destination method of the present invention whichincludes a step of selecting a sorting method of the previousdestinations.

As noted above, there is no limit to the number of previous destinationsthat can be stored in the previous destination database 49. Thus, whenthe number of previous destinations in the database 49 is large, it maybe difficult to find a desired previous destination by scrolling theentire list of previous destinations. Thus, the example of FIGS. 5A-5Hprovides a step of selecting a sorting method for listing the previousdestinations on the screen.

In FIG. 5A, the navigation system displays a list of input methods forselecting a destination which includes the “Recent route” input methodof the present invention. The user selects the “Previous Destination”input method on the screen of FIG. 5A. Then, the navigation systemdisplays a list of sorting methods for specifying a listing order of theprevious destinations as shown in FIG. 5B. In this example, the list ofsorting method includes “Alphabet” for listing the previous destinationsin an alphabetical order, “Time” for listing the previous destinationsin the order of time, “Date” for specifying a particular date, month oryear, “Category” for specifying a particular type of destination such asrestaurant, store, etc., and “Distance” for listing the previousdestinations in the order of distance from the user's current position.

When selecting “Time”, the navigation system displays a list of theprevious destinations in the order of time as shown in FIG. 5C, from theoldest to the newest,.or vice versa. The user selects one of the recentroutes “25 Carson St., Torrance, Calif.” from the list to recycle thedata thereof. Thus, the processes of FIGS. 5D and 5E are basically thesame as those shown in FIGS. 3D and 3D where the user changes theaddress number from “25” to “510” with use of the selection key“Number”.

FIG. 5F shows a case where the user selects the “Alphabet” sortingmethod. The navigation system displays a list of recent routes in analphabetical order in FIG. 5G. The user selects one of the recent routesfrom the list to modify the part of destination data. In the example ofFIG. 5H, the user changes the city name through the selection key“City”. For example, in the case where a particular place that the userwants to visit is located on the same street of the previous destinationin the next city, the user can set the new destination quickly bychanging the city name.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing a basic operational process of thepresent invention for changing the previous destination data stored inthe navigation system. At step 51, from the list of input method forsetting the destination, the user selects the “Previous Destination”method. In step 52, the navigation system retrieves the data from therecent route database and displays a list of previous destinations.Prior to the step 52, it is possible that the navigation system providesa list of sorting method such as shown in FIG. 5B to prompt the user toselect one of the sorting methods.

At step 53, the user selects one of the previous destinations from thelist produced in step 52. Then, at step 54, the user selects the item ofthe address data of the previous destination that he wants to modify.For this purpose, the navigation system provides the selection keys onthe screen for the user to select an item of the address of the previousdestination to modify. In the above example shown in FIGS. 3A-3H and5A-5H, the selection keys include “State”, “City”, “Street” and“Number”.

At step 55, the user changes the data of the selected item of theprevious destination, such as address number. The steps 54 and 55 may berepeated if the user desires to change two or more items of the addressof the previous destination. When the new destination is set, in step56, the navigation system confirms the new destination and calculatesthe route to the destination. Then, the navigation system starts theroute guidance to the destination in step 57.

As has been described, according to the present invention, thenavigation method and apparatus provides a way for a user to easily andefficiently alter the destination address stored in the system. The usercan alter any part of the destination dynamically using an intuitiveinterface including the selection keys “State”, “City” “Street” and“Number”. In other words, the user can recycle the address informationin the previous destinations. Because the user does not need to inputthe entire address information over again, the user can save time ininputting the new information into the system.

Although the invention is described herein with reference to thepreferred embodiment, one skilled in the art will readily appreciatethat various modifications and variations may be made with out departingfrom the spirit and scope of the present invention. Such modificationsand variations are considered to be within the purview and scope of theappended claims and their equivalents.

1. A method for specifying a new destination in a navigation system,comprising the following steps of: memorizing address information of adestination in a memory to create a previous destination database everytime when a destination is set in the navigation system; selecting amenu for specifying a destination through a main menu of the navigationsystem; selecting an input method of previous destination for retrievingthe address information in the previous destination database forspecifying a new destination; displaying a list of previous destinationsretrieved from the previous destination database; selecting one of theprevious destinations from the previous destination list; displaying aplurality of selection keys simultaneously where the selection keys arerespectively assigned to an address number, a street name, and a cityname of the previous destination selected from the previous destinationlist, and selecting a part of address information of the selectedPrevious destination by activating the corresponding selection key andchanging the selected part of the address information to create the newdestination.
 2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein said step ofmemorizing address information includes a step of collecting addressinformation of the destination set by a user in the previous destinationdatabase without regard to whether or not the user actually visited thedestination.
 3. (canceled)
 4. (canceled)
 5. (canceled)
 6. (canceled) 7.A method as defined in claim 1, prior to said step of displaying thelist of previous destinations, further comprising the steps of:displaying a list of sorting methods for sorting the previousdestinations retrieved from the previous destination database; andselecting one of the sorting methods for specifying an order of listingthe previous destinations retrieved from the previous destinationdatabase.
 8. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein said list ofsorting methods includes at least a time method for listing the previousdestinations in the order of time and an alphabetical method for listingthe previous destinations in the alphabetical order.
 9. A method asdefined in claim 8, wherein said list of sorting methods furtherincludes a category method for listing the previous destinations sortedby types of destinations.
 10. A method as defined in claim 1, furthercomprising a step of confirming the new destination and calculating aroute to the new destination.
 11. An apparatus for specifying a newdestination in a navigation system, comprising: means for memorizingaddress information of a destination to create a previous destinationdatabase every time when a destination is set in a the navigationsystem; means for selecting a menu for specifying a destination througha main menu of the navigation system; means for selecting an inputmethod of previous destination for retrieving the address information inthe previous destination database for specifying a new destination;means for displaying a list of previous destinations retrieved from theprevious destination database; means for selecting one of the previousdestinations from the previous destination list; means for displaying aplurality of selection keys simultaneously where the selection keys arerespectively assigned to an address number, a street name, and a cityname of the previous destination selected from the previous destinationlist, and means for selecting a part of address information of theselected previous destination by activating the corresponding selectionkey and changing the selected part of the address information to createthe new destination.
 12. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, whereinsaid means for memorizing the address information includes means forcollecting address information of the destination set by a user in theprevious destination database without regard to whether or not the useractually visited the destination.
 13. (canceled)
 14. (canceled) 15.(canceled)
 16. (canceled)
 17. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, priorto displaying the list of previous destinations, further comprising:means for displaying a list of sorting methods for sorting the previousdestinations retrieved from the previous destination database; and meansfor selecting one of the sorting methods for specifying an order oflisting the previous destinations retrieved from the previousdestination database.
 18. An apparatus as defined in claim 17, whereinsaid list of sorting methods includes at least a time method for listingthe previous destinations in the order of time and an alphabeticalmethod for listing the previous destinations in the alphabetical order.19. An apparatus as defined in claim 18, wherein said list of sortingmethods further includes a category method for listing the previousdestinations sorted by types of destinations.
 20. An apparatus asdefined in claim 11, further comprising means for confirming the newdestination and calculating a route to the new destination.